They cut off drives to the basket, blocked shots and sprinted to the other end of the court. Maybe it wasn’t a throwback to a bygone era, but with Jamaal Wilkes in the house for the retirement of his Lakers jersey, it sure seemed like everything old was new again.

The Lakers ran the Portland Trail Blazers out of Staples Center, feeding off the energy of a 19-4 run late in the first half to take a 104-87 victory in front of a happy sellout crowd of 18,997. The faster the Lakers played, the better they seemed to be Friday night.

Can they do it again Tuesday against the Philadelphia 76 ers?

Or next Friday against the Clippers?

Who knows?

The Lakers (15-15) will get there when they get there.

They got there very quickly Friday, dispatching the Trail Blazers with ease. They never trailed and led by as many as 27 points in the second half. They broke open the game in the second quarter, leading 60-40 with 2 minutes, 53 seconds left after 7-footer Pau Gasol’s 3-pointer.

“We’ve just got to keep it going,” Kobe Bryant said after his 10-game streak of consecutive contests with 30 points or more ended when he scored 27 against the Trail Blazers. “Obviously, we laid an egg in Denver. We’ve just got to keep it going.”

Dwight Howard scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half, grabbed a team-leading 14 rebounds and also blocked three shots. Gasol added 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks and Steve Nash scored only six points but had 10 assists.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points for the Trail Blazers (14-14).

Portland point guard Damian Lillard, a Rookie of the Year candidate and all-around pain in the neck for most opponents, scored 11 points on only 4-for-17 shooting as Darius Morris and later Bryant hounded him without mercy.

Morris, who played only 19 games as a rookie last season, also checked Carmelo Anthony during the Lakers’ victory over the New York Knicks on Christmas Day. Does he have a future as the Lakers’ defensive stopper, a player who can save the legs of Bryant and Nash now and then?

Absolutely, according to Bryant.

“It’s a great opportunity for him to prove his worth, to get a opportunity to build a reputation,” Bryant said of Morris, who scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds and added two assists in 23 minutes, 37 seconds against the Trail Blazers.

Back on terra firma after their five-game winning streak went ker-plunk in the thin air of Denver on Wednesday, the Lakers looked re-energized in the opening minutes against the Trail Blazers. Their lead swelled to as many as 20 points before they settled for a 62-48 halftime edge.

Howard and Gasol punished the Trail Blazers around the basket, Bryant did his damage on the perimeter and Nash orchestrated it all with a deft hand from here, there and everywhere. The Lakers shot 57.1 percent in the first half (24 of 42) and had 11 points on their fast break.

“I had a half-game off in Denver,” Howard said of Wednesday’s ejection. “I guess I was full of energy.”

Nash got the Lakers going with six assists in the first quarter, setting up his teammates with his trademark darting moves around the court. Bryant got the Lakers pointed in the right direction, too, making five of his first eight shots en route to 13 points in the opening quarter.

Howard and Gasol controlled the paint in the first half. Howard scored 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds and Gasol had eight points and five assists one day after the Lakers announced he’s suffering from plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

Gasol’s injury is a common one for basketball players and long-distance runners, a painful condition that impacts the bottom of the foot nearest to the heel. The only cure is rest, a luxury Gasol and the Lakers cannot afford at the moment, given their lackluster record.

“They’re not all going to be like this,” Gasol said of the Lakers’ rout of the Trail Blazers. “We’ll take any win we can get, especially with our record the way it is. For sure, when we’re all on the floor and we play together and get used to our games, a lot of good things can happen.”

Elliott Teaford covers the Clippers and the NBA for the Southern California News Group. He has written about hockey for the past five years and is looking forward to thawing out after so many days and nights sitting in frozen rinks. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.

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